Appendix 18 – Complaints Handling Policy

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.

If you have a complaint, please contact us with the details.

What will happen next?

We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within five days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.

We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to one of our two Directors, Miss Sarah Palmer or Miss Kirti Patel who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you. The person in charge of client care at this company is Sarah Palmer.

You will then be invited to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. We will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

Within five days of the meeting, the Director who dealt with the meeting will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions she has agreed with you.

If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, the Director dealing with your complaint will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including her suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for another solicitor (if possible) of this company to review our decision.

We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

If you are still not satisfied, you can then contact the Legal Ombudsman at PO Box 6806 Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ about your complaint.Any complaint to the Legal Complaints Service must usually be made within six months of the end of our work for you or within six month of you finding out there was a problem.For further information, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman Service on 0300 555 0333 enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.

If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.